Tuesday, Jan 7

Scriptures: Matthew 2:7-8, 12 (NIV) – “Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and make a search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” “And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they [the Magi] returned to their country by another route.”

Mark 4:39-41 (NIV) – “He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’. Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’ They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’”

Matthew 28:16-17 (NIV) – “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”

Mark 1:12-13a (NIV) – “At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.”

Matthew 16:23 (NIV) – “Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’”

Message: After the Magi were warned in a dream not to return through Jerusalem (Matthew 2:12), Satan the deceiver, filled Herod with evil. Satan knew Herod’s obsession with power and used him to commit the atrocity on the male infants in Bethlehem in hopes of terminating the life of Jesus.

Isn’t it ironic, that Satan had no doubt that Jesus was the Son of God? However, as human beings, we sometimes wrestle with doubts. Even His closest disciples questioned, “Who is this?” (Mark 4:41). Some doubted, even at the time of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:17). The Bible shows a number of key passages that Satan and the demonic realm had no doubt about Jesus’ true identity as the Son of God. They immediately recognized His divine authority and feared His power.

Such an unlikely source to prove the power of our Lord and Savior.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You that even the powers of darkness cannot deny who You are. Strengthen my faith so I walk each day with confidence in Your authority, peace in Your promises, and boldness in declaring You as the Son of God. Amen.

Rick Johnson